Who doesn't remember the Children's Film Foundation (CFF) image above.
Just the sight of the fountain, the sound of the church bells and the pigeons
taking flight brings back vivid memories of a flotilla of films made by the CFF
from the late 1950s-1980s. Some were absolutely brilliant including, "The
Battle for Billy's Pond," (soon to arrive at Little Gems), "Cup Fever,"
"Egghead's Robot," "Glitterball," "Hoverbug" and "Sky Pirates." Sadly the
Children's Film Foundation closed in 1981 and since that time very few British
films aimed at under twelves have appeared on our screens. It is hard to
believe that in 1999, the so called Culture Secretary was reportedly pushing
money into young children's film production. I wonder how much of that money
ended up on the screen and how much ended up in the usual administration box. I
for one cannot think of any real films since 1999 which have had under twelves
in mind (feel free to correct me but mark, I am referring to British made and
targeting under twelves only). The only player which took up the work in the
early 1990s was The Children's Unit and two good films arrived in the shape of
Emily's Ghost (1992) and The Gingerbread House.

The Adventures of HAL 5 concerns the story of an old 1920s Austin 7 car
which, having been sold by its owner, is purchased by two children and their
uncle who happens to be a Vicar. The film was made in 1957 in black and white
and lasted approximately fifty seven minutes. There are many similarities here
to other children's films / programs such as "The Love Bug", "Herbie Rides
Again", "Herbie goes Bananas", "Herbie goes to Monte Carlo", "Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang", "Brum" and all other children's programs which bring vehicles to
life. This was possible the first one that had an animated face on a car with
live acting (again please correct if you know otherwise)